Photography final project / New gear / The future

Fall semester 2014 is wrapping up, and I am submitting my final project for photography. My project is a series of concert photos that I took over the last 2 months at The Canopy Club and Cowboy Monkey. here are the photos I selected to submit as my final. They have appeared on this blog before but this is the final series as a whole.
At the bottom I wrote a little about my new gear and some plans for the future!!!!!

I shot all these photos using my Sony Qx10, which takes nice photos but has a very slow reload time, and since it used my iphone as a view finder and memory device sometimes it would lag causing me a lot of loss in timing and shots. I liked the quality of the images but the device was simply too slow.

So I decided to upgrade to a Sony a6000 , it is an amazingly fast camera. The a6000 can shoot bursts of 11 frames per second, at 24 mega pixels and has an amazing iso range coupled with "the worlds fastest auto focus" that boasts 179 points. It was an easy decision to make, my Qx10 looked great with the 18 mega pixels but lacked the controls and speed I needed. So, I grabbed a silver one.

With some new gear and a new semester on the horizon (with a studio photography class) also some exciting shows, I am looking forward to doing a lot of shooting and playing with my new toys. I plan on continuing this blog from now on as I prefer it to most social media. Soon I'll be posting pics from the a6000 so look out for those ... Till next time 

Full Sun Lampworking / and a trip to the homeland

                            Full Sun Lampworking

The other day I had to make a quick trip up north, on the way home I decided to stop by and see my good friend at Full Sun Lampworking. When I Arrived he was just putting the final touches on a Monster oil holder. We chatted a little bit and I decided to take some shots, if youve never seen glass blowing/lampworking in real life, its a pretty interesting process. Well anyway, check out the pics and check out my friends shop he does great work and always willing to do something custom as well (link above)

J Phlip / DJ Belly / Cowboy Monkey

                             J Phlip

                             DJ Belly

This last week I went to the J Phlip / DJ Belly show at The Cowboy Monkey in downtown Champaign. It was really nice to see 2 of Champaign's best DJs in a cozy intimate venue like The Cowboy Monkey. J Phlip is a Champaign native that has since moved on to San Francisco where she is signed to Dirty Bird records, recently she has played at such premiere festivals such as Electric Forrest, and North Coast, and Movement Detroit where she had the closing spot for the festival. Dj Belly is also a Champaign native that is a staple in the area and has opened up for such acts as Wu-tang Clan, Rusko, and many others. I was fortunate enough to be able to shoot at the show for the evening, thanks to J Phlip and Dj Belly.

 

Umphrey's McGee at The Canopy Club

                                   Umphrey's McGee

Tonight I was able to get some really great shots at the Umphrey's show at The Canopy Club. Although I've seen Umphrey's quite a few times (at least 20, no shit) I couldn't tell you the name of a single song or album. They've gotten pretty big over the years and always put on a good show. One thing I always enjoy about seeing Umphrey's is all of my friends that I haven't seen seem to make it out to get their hippie shuffle on. Tonight the light show was mesmerizing as you will see from the pictures.

 Some photo-shop fun i did in class double Stasik

Sun Stereo, Canopy, Halloween (the day after)

                        Sun Stereo

Tonight I returned to The Canopy Club to shoot Sun Stereo, the night after Halloween. All of the audience was still filled with the Halloween spirit and came dressed in costume. Sun Stereo is one of my favorite local bands and always put on a great show and a good time. One of the things I especially enjoy about Sun Stereo is that their tunes are catchy and easy to dance and sing along to. They opened up the night with the theme from "Ghost Busters" and followed up with some of their original jams such as  "Rouge Satellite" , "Better Than Yesterday" , "D N A" and my favorite song "Give It All Away", and then closed the night with a Talking Heads cover and what Halloween party would be complete without Michael Jacksons "Thriller". All and all it was a really fun night, check out the links and their awesome video for "Better Than Yesterday" with a cameo from yours truely.                                                        

                 Sun Stereo Sound Cloud

                                     

                "Better Than Yesterday" music video